Pregnant immigrants held for months in detention despite rules against it

"Lorena Pineda was five months pregnant when masked agents picked her up on a street corner near a San Fernando Home Depot in June. An agent grabbed her from the vending stand she ran with her sister-in-law and put her against a car. Be careful, she told him. I'm pregnant. Don't think I am going to let you go because of that, she recalled him saying."

"The American Civil Liberties Union has documented more than a dozen cases of what it says are pregnant women housed without proper medical care at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., and the ICE processing center in Basile, La., where Pineda was held. In one case, a woman was shackled while she miscarried. Another woman with a high-risk pregnancy was placed in solitary confinement. In other instances, women have been denied prenatal care or not given translation services to speak with medical staff."

Pregnant immigrants are being detained, deported and transferred long distances despite ICE policy that generally bars detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing mothers except in exceptional circumstances. One woman, Lorena Pineda, was arrested at five months' pregnancy, processed in Los Angeles, transferred to multiple facilities and held in rural Louisiana for three months. The American Civil Liberties Union documented more than a dozen cases of pregnant detainees lacking proper medical care, including shackling during miscarriage, placement of high-risk pregnancies in solitary confinement, denial of prenatal care and lack of translation for medical staff. Advocates say many detainees' requests for care were ignored for weeks.

Read at www.bostonherald.com